


the one where an orphan finds out

by angryjane



Series: The Ones Where People Find Out [8]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: BAMF Simon Snow, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Original Character(s), Pre-Canon, Simon-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19464193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angryjane/pseuds/angryjane
Summary: mmmm this was just me trying to fight my writer's block. it's not good, but whatever.set, like, the summer before sixth year.





	the one where an orphan finds out

**Author's Note:**

> mmmm this was just me trying to fight my writer's block. it's not good, but whatever. 
> 
> set, like, the summer before sixth year.

There’s a new kid. He’s tall and slow and stupid, but he’s nice. His hair is short, cropped close to his skull and he’s got moles and freckles all over. I like him. 

“Hullo,” He says to me at breakfast the day after he arrives, “Can I sit here?” 

I nod, mouth still full of dry toast, and he lands unceremoniously next to me. He smells like smoke. 

“I’m Simon.” He tells me then, reaching over me to grab some bread and butter. That’s all we have for breakfast most days. 

“Alex.” I tell him, and he smiles at me. He’s spreading a shitload of butter onto that one poor piece of toast. “You smell like smoke,” I inform him, wiping my hands on ly pants, “Do you have a pack?” 

“A pack?” He repeats, nose crinkling in confusion. 

“Of smokes. Cigarettes. You know, those thin things you put in your mouth and blow fire from?” 

“Oh. No.” 

“Then why the fuck do you smell like smoke?” 

He shrugs and looks away. Alright, I won’t push. 

“Why’re you here?” I ask instead. He tilts his head at me. 

‘Why are any of us here?” 

“Oh, how philosophical of you. I meant why are you in care?” 

“And I meant why are any of us in care?” He shrugs again. “I don’t have parents, same as you.” 

“I have parents,” I insist, “I just.... don’t know where they are. Or why they left me. But I’m sure it was for good reason.” 

“Okay.” He says, and that’s it. He drops it. “What are we supposed to do all day here?” 

“Are you new to care or something? Do you not know how this works? You’re awfully old to just now make it into the system.” 

“I’ve been around.” He tells me, and grins. “But every home is different. Like, in my last one I had to clean the bathroom s all day, and in the one before I had to cook.” 

“Just how many homes have you lived in?’ 

“I’ve been around.” He repeats, and shrugs. “Different one every summer.” 

“And for the rest of the year?” 

“Boarding school. Scholarship.” So he’ll be leaving too. Figures. 

“Scholarship?” I raise an eyebrow at him, “What, are oyu some kind of prodigy or something?” 

His face darkens for a second, and I think maybe I’ve overstepped, but he just grunts, “Something like that,” and finishes his toast. 

\----- 

Simon is quiet most of the time, but he’s good company. Sitting in the dining room beside me, he’ll tell me about his friend Penny, and I’ll tell him what I imagine my parents are like. He doesn’t laugh when I tell him they’d be movie stars or spies, like the other kids do. He’ll just nod sagely and ask me questions. Like, “What kind of films do they do?” or “Where are they stationed?” 

He’s sweet, in this off-putting way. He won’t think to hold the door for you but he’ll draw pictures for you to keep you entertained or save some of his precious dinner for you. Boy, can he eat. Like, damn. 

I’d say you’d think he’d never had a good meal in his life, but that’s probably true. 

“Tell me about this boarding school of yours.” 

He’s splayed out on my bed, and he looks up at me with a grin. “It’s properly magical.” 

I raise an incredulous eyebrow at him, and he laughs. 

“Really, it’s amazing. The best food you’ve ever tasted, and scones that make you feel like you’re floating on the clouds.” 

“What’s it like _outside_ of food?” I prod, and his smile falters. 

“It’s... Something. I never quite feel like I fit there. But it’s nice. It’s so beautiful, but the great Lawn and the Tower and the Chapel. And of course, there’s Penny and Agatha and... and Baz.” His face darkens further at the name. 

“Who’s Agatha?” 

“Girlfriend.” 

“You have a girlfriend?!” It comes out more surprised than I meant it to, and he glares at me. I backtrack, “I mean, why didn’t you tell me about her?” 

He just shrugs, so I let it go. Usually when Simon shrugs it means he doesn’t want to talk about it. 

“Who’s Baz?” I ask instead, and it’s like I set him on fire. His entire posture changes, sitting up straight now. 

“He’s evil.” 

“He is?” 

“ _Yes_. He’s my evil roommate, and he tried to kill me. Multiple times!” 

“Really.” 

“Yes! He pushed me down the stairs in fourth year, and in third year he tried to feed me to a chimera!” 

“A chimera? Listen you yourself, Simon. That’s ridiculous.” 

“A... Oh. I mean,” He flounders, “I mean, he tried to feed me to a dog. A... A big one!” 

I don’t say anything, so he shrugs again. 

“Baz _is_ evil though.” 

“Whatever you say, Simon.” 

\------ 

“You don’t seem like much of a prodigy to me,” Rufus is leaning over Simon, peering into his workbook. We spend the mornings doing chores, and the afternoons going over lessons. It’s all terribly boring. 

“Bug off, Rufus,” Simon mutters, putting a hand over his work. Rufus has been bothering him for as long as he’s been here. They've even gotten into a few physical fights. 

“Oh, no, are you gonna hit me, Simon? Well, come on, then. Hit me.” 

Simon only grunts and stands, bringing his notebook to another table to work. I follow, sending Rufus and his cronies a withering look. They laugh. 

“Don’t listen to them, Simon.” He’s not looking at me. “Simon?” 

He just shakes his head. I glance down at his workbook. “Number forty is wrong. You want me to show you?” 

He shakes his head again, silently erasing his work. I sigh, leaning over him again. “You have to distribute, _then_ divide. Not the other way around.” 

He huffs. “Why do I even need to know this? How’s this going to help me? I can’t save the world with polynomials.” 

I just nod. He does this sometimes, talks about saving things, about magic. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I don’t mind. So what , he’s got an imaginary world in that head of his? I can’t really blame him; you have to survive somehow. 

“Like this,” I tell him, and show him how to do the problem. He doesn’t say thank you, but he bumps my shoulder and I know. 

\------ 

The home is on fire. The home is on fire, and there’s a fucking _dragon_. A dragon. In Leeds. 

We’re pouring out of the building, and I think someone must be calling the fire department because I can hear them yelling. I see Rufus, carrying one of the younger kids, and his cronies following behind. 

I don’t see Simon. 

The dragon—that has to b what it is—is huge, and green, and has these odd, unblinking eyes that are so unsettling as they sweep over us. It’s looking for something. Or maybe someone, I don’t know. 

There's another explosion, but it’s not coming from the dragon’s giant maw; it’s coming from inside the home. 

The thing dives at the building, and I shout, because Simon is probably still in there and I don’t know what to do because there’s a _dragon._

A hand locks on mine and I look down to see one of the younger girls staring up at me, the flames illuminated in her eyes. It’s almost midnight now, and I can’t even see the stars. 

“Are you alright?” I ask her, because I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say. She just look s at me, and grips my hand tighter. I grip back. 

“What the fuck?” I hear Rufus saying behind me, and I follow his eyes towards the dragon—it's in the air now, and there’s someone on _top_ of it. 

It’s Simon. 

Of fucking course it is. 

He’s got a bloody sword out, waving it around, and I don’t even know where it could have come from. He showed up at the door with a duffel bag full of clothes and candy bars. 

He swings at it, hacking away at its scaly neck, and the girl beside me shoves her face into my thigh. I run a hand down her back, shushing her, but my eyes are still on Simon and the dragon. 

He falls off, and lands with a sickening thump on the roof, rolling to a stop midway down the shingles. 

He looks back up at the dragon, now rearing towards him, and back at us. I lock eyes with him, and he smiles. 

Then he’s on fire. 

At first I think the dragon’s lit him up, but the dragon’s still got its mouth closed, and Simon—on _fire_ —is launching himself at it. 

I’m not sure what happens next, but the dragon is a heap of ash by the time Simon is in front of me. He looks unharmed, only are few bruises and scrapes. The bottoms of his pajama pants are smoking, and he stamps it out without a word. 

“What the fuck was that?” Rufus explodes, and Simon shrugs. The firemen have arrived and are almost finished with the building. He glances at them, then digs around in his trousers, coming up with a stick. But, like, a fancy one. 

He points it at the firemen. **_“There’s nothing to see here.”_ **

The firemen roll up their hose and go. 

“What the fuck,” Rufus repeats, softly, and the girl at me side giggles. Simon glances down at her. 

“You’re Simon Snow!” She tells him, and starts to sing. “ _And one will come to end him, and one will bring his fall!”_

**Author's Note:**

> comments would be lovely!!!!
> 
> oh and, if u wanna chat: https://discord.gg/ZfHSuda  
> it started as a spidey discord, but it's just a bunch of random stuff now!!! come say hi


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